The Lemur Park in Madagascar

 One Sunday, we decided to take a family trip to the Lemur's Park. It took about an hour to zig-zag    through the Malagasy towns and traffic. Finally, we made it to a place of tranquility, fresh air, and amazing sights.

The entrance to the lemur's park. Almost every sign is in Malagasy and in French. 

The Turdlings were so happy that they would see a real lemur. We were happy to have finally left the city!

The outskirts of the city are truly breathtaking. 

Seriously, where do you see views like this? 

The water is color because the soil underneath is made of clay. 

These are mini baobab trees. They are usually found in the south
and north of Madagascar. And, not in the big cities. They
grow to be huge giants in the sky. 

I love the fact that our kids love to be in nature. 

A lemur mommy and her baby. Can you see the small head poking out? It hung onto its mommy and enjoyed the ride. 

This lemur knows how to relax. It just laid back on the branch and stretched out on its back. 

We found King Julian!!!! 

He was less impressed with us. 

He wanted some privacy when he eating his meals. Fat chance mister!

Then he pondered why there we kept taking his picture. 

I loved this lemur. He loved his branch!

He sniffed his branch, hugged his branch, and chewed on it. It was his branch!

Oh La La! My branch!!!!

I was waiting for a lemur to attack the kids. They enjoyed staring back at the kids and wondering if "The Turdlings" was a  correct name for them. I'm sure he had some other names to offer. 

Hello, little lemur in the tree! 

This one had a story to tell. And, one time at lemur camp..... LOL!

I'm so cute!!! Really, who doesn't love me? !

The kids liked looking at the other animals as well. There were tortoises,  birds, and nocturnal lemurs. 

The Turdlings in the bamboo.

The trip would not be a "Davis" unless the kids ate from the back of the car.  We are always ready for an "adventure" of one sort or another! 

Hashing around Madagascar

Twice a week, a group of people called Hashers meet up and run or walk through the countryside or city. My husband, is one of these Hashers who introduced us to this fun pastime. Last Sunday, we joined (the kids too) the hashing crew and made our way up steep hills, through rice patties, woods, small villages, and down steep hills for a 3 1/2 mile walk. What we saw was amazing, fascinating, and sad as well. Many of the paths we took had us walking in the middle of rice patties on the narrow walkway that joined them together. The air was fresh and the people were friendly as we greeted them with a hello (manaona) in their local language. Many of the children followed us as we were probably one if the few Caucasian people they ever saw. They laughed with delight as I took their picture and showed them. You must remember that most of these children live  in "houses" with no electricity or running water.

 Once we finished the hash trail, we joined the others and had a drink and snack as the children played together. The best part of this hash group is the people who belong to it come from all over the world. Our group has Malagasy, French, Belgian, Dutch, South African, and American people. If there is one important lesson you should learn in life, it is that we are all one family! 

Audrey and I hiked about 3 1/2 miles on this hash. 

One of the many rice patties and villages we travelled through. 

Zebu (cows) grazed as we walked by them. 

There were many small villages and houses. These houses do not have electricity or running water. 

The rice patties are broken up into sections. Each section you see has a very narrow path which we walked on. 

Audrey carefully walking on a path through the rice patties

Beautiful view of the rice patties dotted with palm and banana trees. 

The cattle and the villagers share their areas.

More examples of their houses.

Many of the roofs are thatched with a type of root. The Malagasy people also make wonderful sturdy baskets with this root as well. 

Free range chickens

Audrey chasing the free range chickens

This local farmer walked his zebu through the town. 

Audrey and Rachel walking through the village as local children join them. 

These local children were very excited to have their pictures taken and shown to them.

Audrey made several new friends. 

After the running/walking we joined together and had a drink. 

My friend Rachel joined us and brought her dog. Notice our running sign in the background-complete with lemur! 

Drinking from the piss-pots. Don't worry they are only used for beer and water. 

Samuel joined the circle as we celebrated his birthday one day early. 

       Overall, it was a wonderful day filled with adventure and new friends. Who can beat that?

Thick Skin and Many Tears.

I want to ask you an honest question. How many of you have seen poverty and turned your back to it? I ask because I live in a country that has a 92% poverty level. Poverty here is everywhere you go and there is no turning your back, no matter how hard you try.

Last week my family and I waited at a local gas station to meet up with some friends and follow them to our destination. While we waited, my family witnessed first hand a child about my daughter Emma's age, carry her infant brother on her back and beg for money or anything that could be given her. We are talking about an 7-9 year old girl who had nothing and had to beg. We were told to not give money for security reasons and because they will continue to bother you for more.  This is where my heart literally breaks and I cry and cry. I have nothing to give her. I have to turn my back to this child and hide my face. 

Seriously, here my family sits in a car with clean clothes, shoes, a full belly, and new iPhones. We have everything we would want, yet a child stands by my window with nothing but tattered clothes, no shoes, and was probably very hungry. 92% of the Malagasy people live in some type of poverty. Everyone I talk to says that after awhile you become accustomed to seeing this and you grow a thick skin. I'm not sure that I will be able to do this. I know that the world has poverty everywhere, even in the United States. All I ask is for you to imagine living in poverty? I dare you to try for one day to imagine where you will sleep or what meal you will eat. Maybe this will help us to learn to give more than we expect to receive. 

Here is a view from our balcony.